Mumbai Indians have clinched the first-ever Women’s Premier League title by defeating Delhi Capitals by seven wickets and three balls remaining in a low-scoring thriller this Sunday evening. Two teams who have been brilliant throughout the tournament were all set to sweep the Indian crowd off their feet by displaying some serious entertaining skills.
Delhi Capitals won the toss and decided to bat first at the packed Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Shafali Verma, the young Indian sensation walked out to open with captain Meg Lanning and started with a couple of smooth boundaries before she fell to Issy Wong for 11 years.
Issy went on to bag Alice Capsey for a duck. Jemimah, positively the home crowd’s favorite batter, was expected to blast off in the finals but she also fell to Issy for just nine runs. While on the other side, captain Meg tried to anchor the innings by steadily moving forward to get the boundaries at the right time.
The Mumbai Indians’ bowling was well supported by their impeccable fielding efforts which restricted batters from getting a single. As the captain got run out for 35 runs, it was the lower batting order up to get some runs on board. Hayley Mathews superbly timed her bowling and fielding to get the Capitals batters off the field. Shikha and Radha each scored a quick-fire 27 to get the total to 131 after the first 20 overs.
All Mumbai Indians needed was to score 132 off 120 deliveries to take the glory home. The Indian openers went with the approach of not even flinching to hit it out of the park. Yastika and Hayley started with a couple of boundaries. As Yastika fell for four runs to Radha, the big gun, Nat Sciver-Brunt walked in to go big from the start of her innings.
The match was looking tight as the Capitals bagged two wickets in the first four overs. Nat then took charge with the Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur. With a solid partnership of 72 runs, they made the win look easy and coming for MI. Captain Kaur got run out for 37 runs and Nat decided to change her gears.
Capitals, who had held on for so long, crumbled at the crucial moment as Nat Sciver-Brunt displayed a fine combination of calm and cheek. She swept the first ball of Jess Jonassen’s 19th over to the boundary after steadying the innings with a 52-ball half-century. It was deflating for the Capitals. She went on to score 60 not out of 55 deliveries including seven boundaries.
Amelia Kerr was able to snag two more fours to get them to the door. Sciver-Brunt then completed the game by paddling Alice Capsey past a short fine. Only five needed off the last over, the MI dugout was on the edge of their seats.
The Capitals still tried to fight till the last breath. Nat Brunt remained unbeaten on 60 as Mumbai won the inaugural WPL title. To add to their men’s IPL historical glory, women’s Mumbai Indians stood up to all the expectations and did for the love that poured in for them for the past three weeks.
